Remote access and retrieval of electronic files

ABSTRACT

A system and methods for remotely accessing, retrieving, and transmitting data offering remote data management control and verification of data delivery is provided. In an illustrative implementation, the present invention comprises a computing application operating on at least one computer server that cooperates with at least one communications network to which participating users have access. The exemplary computing application coordinates the delivery of desired data its corresponding data directory structure information to participating users over the communications network. The present invention further provides notification of delivery of data to intended targets using the communications network.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of data retrieval, and moreparticularly, to the retrieval and transmission of data from and/or to aremote server using computing elements varying in form-factor andcomplexity.

BACKGROUND

Advances in communications technologies have had a significant impact onour lives. From simple telephony to video conferencing, communicationtechnologies have allowed us to more easily transfer data from onesource to another regardless of geographic limitations. The Internethails as the one of the most recent significant advances that has had asubstantial influence on our daily routines. Evidence of this impact canbe seen in the insatiable appetites for e-mail communications andInternet services, such as, the World Wide Web (WWW), instant messaging,online discussion boards (chat rooms), etc. The impact of the Internetand other similar communications networks can be seen both at home andin the workplace. Public and private sectors, alike, have recognized thestrength of these communication technologies and have deployedcomprehensive information technology plans to exploit them. Theseinformation technology plans allow employees to engage in telecommutingsuch that data resources may be leveraged, in real time, to employeesindependent of geographic limitation. As a result, both the enterpriseand its employees realize significant benefits from this ability.

The communication industry has been quick to respond to the growingneeds of consumers to have access to data. A slew of products andservices have been designed developed, and deployed in response to theseneeds. From broadband data services to wireless telephony, communicationtechnology developers and service providers (e.g. telecommunicationcompanies such as regional Bells) have deployed and continue to deploycommunications products and services that operate on theircommunications networks. When deployed, these services allow for thereal-time data transmission and delivery. For example, communicationservice providers support the mobile delivery and transmission ofelectronic mail to hand-held mobile computing devices such thatparticipating users can access their electronic mail remotely.Similarly, real-time browsing of Internet Web content, delivery ofsecure corporate data is also supported by current communicationsnetworks. As such, communications service providers are constantlystriving to exploit the capacity and abilities of their communicationsnetworks.

Current communications network services focus on the delivery andstorage of content. Typically, data is stored on a computer serverconnected to one or more communications networks supported andmaintained by the communications network service providers. The computerserver executes one more computing applications that allow participatingusers to access a variety of data stored either on the computer serveror on one or more cooperating data stores. Generally, with currentcommunications network services, participating users have little to nocontrol over where the data may be stored. That is, the computer servercomputing applications perform most of the data management functions andfor the most part act to “push” the data from the computer server to theparticipating users' computing device (e.g. home personal computer,mobile telephone, mobile personal digital assistant, etc.). Furthermore,current remote access systems and methods do provide confirmation toparticipating users of the delivery and distribution of desired data.That is, participating users most often are left to assume that thecommunications network with which they are interacting has delivered thedesired data in accordance with the participating users' intentions.

However, these practices fall short of providing participating userswith the ability to remotely access data such that the participatingusers have data management and storage control (e.g. control over thedirectory structure), as well as, receive confirmation that desired datahas been delivered and/or distributed correctly. Without the ability toremotely have data management control and without confirmation of properdata delivery, participating users are often left with the arduous tasksof ferreting out desired data from pre-defined directory structures andmanually confirming that desired data has been delivered to intendedparties. Moreover, in the context of remotely accessing data from acorporate network, often participating users require the ability tocreate new directory data structures to store new data, modified data,or simply to move data from one storage location to another. Currentcommunications networks systems do not support such capabilities leavingparticipating users wanting.

From the forgoing it is appreciated that there exists a need forcomprehensive system and methods that allow the remote access andtransmission of data such that users have remote control data storagemanagement features (e.g. control over directory structures).

SUMMARY

System and methods are disclosed that allow the remote access of dataover a communications network such that participating users have theability to control data directory structures where data is stored andthat provides notification of data delivery to the sending party upondelivery of data to the desired target. In an illustrativeimplementation, the remote data access system comprises a computerserver operating at least one computing application that allows for thetransmission and delivery of data across the communications network. Theillustrative computer server operates a computing application thatmanages the transmission and delivery of desired data, data structures,and data delivery notifications to remote computing devices over thecommunications network.

In operation, participating users may send requests to view andmanipulate data and associated data directory structures over thecommunications network (or communications networks) to a computingapplication operating on one or more cooperating computing servers. Thecomputing application coordinates the retrieval and aggregation of datafrom various cooperating data stores and computer servers toauthenticate participating users trying to gain access to stored dataand data directories and to provide desired data and data directoryinformation. Furthermore, the computing application coordinates thedelivery of data over one or more communication networks to desiredtargets identified by participating users and provides notification toparticipating users of data delivery.

Other features of the present invention are described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The system and methods for remote retrieval of data are furtherdescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a an exemplary networked computingenvironment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the interaction between exemplaryparties when retrieving and transmitting data;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing applicationoperating to retrieve and transmit data remotely;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the interaction between exemplarycomponents of a remote data retrieval system when logging onto thecommunications network;

FIG. 5 a block diagram of showing the interaction between exemplarycomponents of a remote data retrieval system when viewing data;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the interaction between exemplarycomponents of a remote data retrieval system when sending data across acooperating communications network;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the interaction between exemplarycomponents of a remote data retrieval system when receiving notificationof data transmission;

FIG. 8 is a screen shot of an exemplary user interface that allowsparticipating users to log onto a remote data retrieval system;

FIGS. 9A-9B are screen shots of exemplary user interfaces when viewingdata (directories and/or files) on a remote data retrieval system;

FIG. 10 is a screen shot of an exemplary user interface when sendingdata via a remote data retrieval and transmission system;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of the processing performed whenauthenticating users and viewing data using a remote data retrieval andtransmission system; and

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of the processing performed when sending dataacross the remote data retrieval and transmission system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE IMPLEMENTATION Overview:

The adage “knowledge rules” still reigns supreme. In the era ofinformation technology (“IT”) and communications networks, consumers(and/or users) have put a premium on the ability to have real-timeaccess to their data (or conversely their source of knowledge)regardless of geography and time of day. In response, communicationsservice providers have designed, developed, and deployed variousservices that allow participating users to have access to their desireddata. Such services include mobile telephony, mobile e-mail, andwireless access to the World Wide Web. These services, for the mostpart, allow participating users to access data without control over theunderlying data directory structure in which the data may be stored.Stated differently, with existing communications services deployed onexisting communications networks, participating users are able to view,modify, and store data but are not able to view or modify the underlyingdata directory structure in which the data is stored.

The consequences of having a lack of directory control is most felt byparticipating corporate users. Specifically, in the corporatecommunications environment, corporate users often are required to accessdata remotely. Whether the corporate user relies on a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), orother communications network(s) to access their data, the corporate usermost often seeks to not only control the desired data but also itscorresponding data directory structure. For example, a sales person ison a client call and realizes that he/she forgot the client's profilereport in the office. Under current practices, the salesperson will mostlikely have to cell someone at the office to pull the client's profilereport from their network and possibly e-mail the report to thesalesperson for viewing on his/her portable (mobile) computing device.Such practice, as one may imagine, is rather arduous and time consuming.Further, the salesperson would have to rely on another person to “pull”the desired data. It is noted that there may exist practices that allowparticipating users control over data and data directory structureremotely. However, such practices are generally not operable overwireless communications networks thereby requiring participating usersto use non-wireless computing devices to access and control data and itscorresponding data directory structure. A more palatable scenarioenvisions the salesperson having direct access to the data and itscorresponding directory structure through their mobile device.

Systems and methods disclosed herein aim to ameliorate the shortcomingsof existing practices offering participating users the ability to accessdata remotely wherein such access includes the ability to control datadirectory structures maintaining desired data. Further, the disclosedsystem provides notifying participating users delivery of data over thecommunications networks to desired targets. In an illustrativeimplementation, a system comprises a computing application operating onat least one computer server that cooperates with at least onecommunications network to which participating users have access. Thecomputing application coordinates the delivery of data and datastructure information to participating users over the communicationsnetwork. Other aspects of the illustrative systems and methods aredescribed below.

Illustrative Communications Network Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network environment 100, with a servercomputer 10 a, 10 b in communication with a number of communicationdevices (or computing devices) via a communications network 160, inwhich the exemplary system and methods may be employed. As shown in FIG.1, a number of servers 10 a, 10 b, etc., are interconnected via acommunications network 160 (which may be either a fixed wire or wirelessLAN, WAN, intranet, extranet, peer-to-peer network, or the Internet)with a client computer 20, or computing devices, such as, mobile phone15, personal digital assistant 17, telephone 19, and pager 21. In anetwork environment in which the communications network 160 is theInternet, for example, servers 10 a and 10 b can be Web servers withwhich the communication and/or computing devices communicate via any ofa number of known protocols, such as, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)or wireless application protocol (WAP), as well as other innovativecommunication protocols. Each computing device can be equipped withcomputing application 180 a, 180 b, 180 c, and 180 d, for example, togain access to the servers 10.

Thus, an exemplary computer network environment having client computingdevices for accessing and interacting with the network and a servercomputer for interacting with client computers has been disclosed.However, the systems and methods for providing remote access of data ofthe present invention can be implemented with a variety of network-basedarchitectures, and is not limited to the example shown.

Remote Data Retrieval and Transmission

FIG. 2 depicts the interaction between client computing devices andserver computers to realize remote access and management of data. Asshown in remote access system 200, a participating user 205 may requestdata from a remote server computer by interacting with one or morecomputing devices 15, 17, 19, 20, and 21 (of FIG. 1) operating computingapplications 180 a-d. Computing applications 180 a-d communicate therequest to the server computer 20 b operating computing application 180a over communications network 160. The request is processed by computingapplication 180 a, as described below, to execute the request for datadelivery. Once processed, the data is delivered to a data deliverytarget 310, which may be, for example, another user of the requestorhimself, over communications network 160. A data delivery verificationis delivered to the requesting computing device as indicated by thearrows. The participating user 205 is then allowed to view the dataand/or data delivery verification notice using computing devices 15, 17,19, 20, and 21.

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of exemplary computing application 180that operates on remote data access and management system 200 thatoperates to allow remote access and management of data. As showncomputing application 180 comprises a computing application processingand storage area 180 a′ and a computing application display area 180 b′.Computing application processing and storage area 180 a′ furthercomprises processing rules 180 a′(1) and ID data store 180 a′(2).Computing application display area 180 b′ comprises display content 180b″. In operation, data may be processed in computing applicationprocessing and storage area 180 a′ for display in computing applicationdisplay area 180 b′. In an illustrative implementation, when a requestis made to retrieve and/or manage data from remote access and managementsystem, the request for data is passed to computing application 180. Therequest is first processed according to processing rules 180 a′(1) andusing ID data store 180 a′(2) to authenticate the request. Ifauthenticated, the request is honored and the desired data is placed fordisplay as display content 180 b′ in computing application display area180 b′.

FIGS. 4-7 show an exemplary deployment of a remote data access systemthat allows for the remote access of data and its corresponding datadirectory structure, as well as that performs data deliverynotification. As shown, remote data access system 400 comprises variouscommunication devices including but not limited to mobile telephone 402,telephone 408, pager 410, wireless access protocol (WAP) device 402 a,wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) 412, pocket-PC 414, and clientcomputer 422. These communication devices (or computing devices)maintain a number of communications network connections allowing them totransmit and receive various data between themselves and cooperatingcommunications networks and other communications devices (or computingdevices). For example and as shown in FIGS. 4-7, mobile telephone 402communicates data to wireless voice provider communications network 404.In turn, wireless voice provider communications network may cooperatewith a central office (CO) 406 of a telephone communication network. TheCO, providing connections to telephones 408, in turn may cooperate witha voice XML server 416 that itself is connected to the Internet 444.Further, voice XML server 416 may also cooperate with public switchtelephone network (PSTN) or other wireless carrier.

Similarly, pager 410, WAP device 402 a, wireless PDA 412, and pocket-PC414 may be connected to wireless data provider 448. Specifically, WAPdevice 402 a may connect to wireless data provider 448 through WAPgateway server 438, and wireless PDA 412 may connect to wireless dataprovider 448 through web access gateway 440. The wireless data providercommunications network 448 may cooperate with the Internet 444 so thatcommunication devices 410, 402 a, 412, and 414 may transmit and receivedata over the Internet 444.

Lastly, the Internet may cooperate with a number of computer serversincluding remote e-mail server 420 and web server 428. As shown, webserver 428 cooperates with the Internet through firewall 426 andmaintains communication with e-mail server 424. Furthermore, web server428 hosts a remote access application 425 that coordinates the remoteaccess of data and the delivery and notification of accessed data.Remote access application 425 cooperates with a number of data stores torealize remote access and delivery notification of data. These datastores may include a user authentication data store 424, a profile datastore 432 and data files data store 430. User authentication data store424 contains data representative of user information (e.g. usernames andpasswords). Comparatively, profile data store 432 may containinformation indicative of user profiles that give insight to the scopeof data a particular user be allowed to access. Data files data store430 contains the desired data and corresponding data directorystructures.

Generally, in order to gain access to data remotely using the presetsystem, the user must identify themselves to the system. Typically, thisis accomplished by requiring users to enter a user identification andpassword combination. Thus, when a user using a device such as, forexample, PDA 412 desired to access their data, they must enter a USER IDand PASSWORD as described below in connection with FIG. 8. Upon enteringthis information, it is transmitted through system 400 to access remoteaccess application 425 where user authentication processing isperformed.

FIG. 4 shows the data flow (as indicated by the arrows) of datacommunicated 4 through remote data access system 400 when performinguser authentication. As shown user authentication data may originatefrom a number of different sources (e.g. mobile telephone 402, telephone408, pager 410, wireless access protocol (WAP) device 402 a, wirelesspersonal digital assistant (PDA) 412, and pocket-PC 414). Theauthentication request comprises a user identification and password ofsome sort. The authentication request is passed along to the variouscooperating communications networks as shown by arrows 450, 452, 462,464, 466. In turn, these communications networks pass along theauthentication request to the Internet as indicated by arrows 456 and446. The request is then passed along to the cooperating web server 428as indicated by arrow 458 where it is processed by remote accessapplication 425 operating on web server 428. In turn, remote accessapplication 425 calls upon user authentication database 424 to retrieveauthentication information for use in processing the authenticationrequest. Specifically, user authentication data store 424 receives apassword associated with a user ID in the authentication request. If thepassword in the request matches that received from data store 424,access to data files data store 430 is granted. Of course, if thepassword in the request does not match, then authentication fails andnotification of the failure is transmitted through remote data accesssystem 400 to the device from which the authentication requestoriginated.

Conversely, if the authentication process indicates data access shouldbe provided, remote access application 425 queries profile data store432 to determine what data and directories are to be made available tothe requesting device (e.g. participating user requesting access). Theresults of this query, which may identify the directories and filesaccessible to the requesting device, are forwarded by remote accessapplication 425 via remote data access system 400 to the device fromwhich the request was made. At the requesting device, the accessibledirectories and files are displayed by exemplary computing application180 a-d (not shown) using an interface, such as, for example isdescribed in connection with FIGS. 9-10.

FIG. 5 shows the data flow (as indicated by the arrows) of datacommunicated through remote data access system 400 when performing dataand data directory structure retrieval for display and manipulation ofthe cooperating communication devices. As shown, the remote accessapplication cooperates with data files data store 430 to retrievedesired data (as indicated by a request for data by a participating user(communication device)—not shown) as indicated by arrow 470. The data isformatted by remote access application and communicated to therequesting communications device through the Internet 444 by web server428. The data may travel across a number of cooperating communicationsnetworks from the Internet 444 to reach the requesting communicationsdevices. For example, if the requesting device is mobile telephone 402,data would travel across the Internet 444 to voice XML server 416 asindicated by arrow 478 to CO 406 as indicated by arrow 480 and then tothe mobile telephone 402 through wireless voice provider communicationsnetwork 404 as indicated by arrow 484. Comparatively, arrow 482indicates the data path if telephone 408 were the requestingcommunications device and arrows 471 and 476, 474, and 472 indicate thedata path if any of pager 410, WAP device 402(a), wireless PDA 412, andpocket-PC 414 were the requesting communication devices. Once at therequesting communications device, the desired data and its correspondingdata directory structures may be displayed, and furthermore instructionsmay be sent along the various data paths to indicate modifications andstorage of the desired data and corresponding data directory structures.These instructions are processed and executed by the remote accessapplication operating on web server 428.

After receiving an indication of the directories and data accessible tothem, participating users may choose to perform a number of procedures,including, forwarding a file or files stored in data files data store420 to another user, downloading a file to the requesting participatingusers' computing device (e.g. mobile phone 402, telephone 408, pager410, PDA 412, pocket-PC 414, client PC 422), or manipulating theremotely stored data directories and/or files. Requests for performingthese or any other type of data access function/operation are formattedby the participating users' requesting devices, forwarded over remotedata access system 400, and processed by remote access application 425.

FIG. 6 shows the data flow (as indicated by the arrows) of datacommunicated through remote data access system 400 when performing datadelivery to intended delivery targets. For example, a participating usermay desire to e-mail a file stored at data files data store 430 to aco-worker. The user formats the request using his/her computing device(e.g. mobile computing device), which may be, for example, a PDA havingsoftware thereon to provide an interface such as is described below inconnection to FIG. 10. After the request is formatted, it is forwardedvia remote data access system 400 to remote access application 425.Remote access application 425 cooperates with data files data store 430to retrieve the desired data for delivery as indicated by arrow 470.Furthermore, remote access application cooperates with e-mail server434, as indicated by arrow, 488 which in turn cooperates with profiledata store 432, as indicated by arrow 486, to obtain deliveryinformation, such as e-mail address information. In operation, e-mailserver 434 communicates the desired data and data directory structure toidentified intended targets using the Internet 444 as indicated by arrow490. In an illustrative implementation, the data may be delivered to aremote e-mail server as indicated by arrow 492. In turn, remote e-mailserver 494 may be accessed by a number of communication devices (e.g.mobile telephone 402, pager 410, wireless PDA 412, pocket-PC 414, andclient computer 422), as indicated by arrow 494, so that delivery of thedesired data to intended targets is realized. After an action, such assending a file or changing a directory structure, has been taken withrespect to the participating user's data, the participating userreceives notification that the action has been completed. Thus, afterremote access application 425 implements the action specified by theuser, it forwards notification to the user.

FIG. 7 shows the data flow (as indicated by the arrows) of datacommunicated through remote data access system 400 when performing datadelivery notification. The notification data flow is indicated by arrows496 and 498. For example, a notification message may be delivered to therequesting communications device(s) to verify that the desired data hasbeen delivered by the remote access system 400 to the intendedtarget(s).

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary screen shot of a user interface used toauthenticate participating users for remote data access by a remoteaccess application. As shown, personal digital assistant (PDA) 17comprises a display area 810 and navigation controls 820. In operation,a participating user may manipulate data in display area usingnavigation controls 820. Further, as shown, within, display are 810,user authentication interface 830 may be used to authenticateparticipating users. For example, user authentication interface 830 maycomprise one or more pull down menus that may be operated to inputparticipating user information for communication to a remote accessapplication 425 that is capable of authenticating the user based on theinputted information. Further, user authentication interface 820 maycontain one or more dialog boxes that can accept inputs fromparticipating users to indicate the participating user's assignedauthentication information (e.g. username and password).

FIGS. 9A and 9B show exemplary screen shots of user interfaces toperform data and data directory structure viewing, manipulation, andstorage. In operation, a participating user may manipulate data indisplay area 810 using navigation controls 820. Within display are 810,data and data directory structure display and manipulation interfaces840 and 850 may be utilized to realize data and data structure displayand manipulation. For example, data and data directory structure displayand manipulation interfaces 840 and 850 may comprise one or more pulldown menus that may be operated to retrieve desired data from datadirectory structures. Further, data and data directory structure displayand manipulation interfaces 840 and 850 may contain one or more dialogboxes that can accept inputs from participating users to indicatedesired data and corresponding data directory structures for retrievalfrom a remote computer network.

FIG. 10 shows a screen shot of a user interface to perform data deliveryand identification of desired data by an exemplary remote accessapplication. As shown personal digital assistant (PDA) 17 comprises adisplay area 810 and navigation controls 820. In operation, aparticipating user may manipulate data in display area 810 usingnavigation controls 820. Further, as shown, within display area 810,data delivery and notification interfaces 860 may be displayed andinteracted with to realize data delivery and notification. For example,data delivery and notification interfaces 860 may comprise one or morepull down menus that have information representative of intended targetsand provide information about the data that is to be distributed.Further, data delivery and notification interfaces 860 may contain oneor more dialog boxes that can accept information representative of datadelivery and notification targets. An example of such dialog box is anintended delivery dialog box requesting information about the intendeddelivery mode (e.g. e-mail, pager, mobile telephone, instant messageaddress, etc) for recipient that is to receive the intended data (thatmay be described in another dialog box). Indeed, a voice activatedinterface may be used to provide access to remote data.

It is understood that although a personal digital assistant 17 isdescribed to maintain the exemplary user interfaces as shown in FIGS.8-10, that such description is merely exemplary as the present inventioncontemplates the deployment of the same or similar user interfaces invarious computing devices including but not limited to, pagers, mobiletelephones, mobile computing devices, and any and all other computingdevice capable of supporting these described user interfaces.

FIG. 11 shows the processing performed to authenticate participatingusers to grant remote access to desired data and data directorystructure. As shown, processing begins at block 1100 and proceeds toblock 1110 where a check is performed to determine if a request forremote data has been made. If there is no request, processing reverts toblock 100 and proceeds from there. However, if a request for remote datahas been made at block 110, processing proceeds to block 1120 where thedata request is routed to the remote access application 425. Remoteaccess application 425 queries user authentication data store 424 toverify that the user ID and password submitted with the request isvalid. From there, processing proceeds to block 1130 where an additionalcheck is performed to determine if the participating user who offers therequest for data is authenticated. If the participating user is notauthenticated processing terminates at block 1160.

Alternatively, if the user is authenticated at block 1130, processingproceeds to block 1140 where the participating user is granted access todesired data and its corresponding data structure. More specifically,remote access application 425 queries data files data store 430 todetermine which data directories and files are accessible by theauthenticated user. Processing proceeds to block 1150 where the data ishandled in response to participating users' input. From there processingterminates at block 1160.

FIG. 12 shows the processing performed when providing notification ofdelivery of data to desired targets. As shown, processing begins atblock 1200 and proceeds to block 1210 where the desired data and itscorresponding data directory structure are offered to requestingparticipating users. In operation, this step may be realized by theinteraction of the exemplary remote access application with one or morecooperating data stores that contains the desired data and itscorresponding data directory structure(s). From there, the data to bedelivered is identified at block 1220. The data is then communicated tothe appropriate cooperating communications networks for delivery atblock 1230. The data is then delivered and confirmed using theappropriate cooperating communications networks at block 1240. Averification of delivery confirmation is then prepared and communicatedto the participating user at block 1250. Processing then terminates atblock 1260.

CONCLUSION

Thus, system and methods have been disclosed herein for remotelyretrieving and transmitting data across a communications network suchthat data management control and data delivery verification areleveraged to participating users. It is understood, however, that theexemplary systems and methods are susceptible to various modificationsand alternative constructions. There is no intention to limit thepossible embodiments to the specific constructions described herein. Onthe contrary, the systems and methods may have numerous modifications,alternative constructions, and equivalents.

It should also be noted that the above described systems and methods maybe implemented in a variety of computer environments (including bothnon-wireless and wireless computer environments), partial computingenvironments, and real world environments. The various techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented in hardware or software, or acombination of both. Preferably, the techniques are implemented incomputer programs executing on programmable computers that each includea processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (includingvolatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least oneinput device, and at least one output device. Program code is applied todata entered using the input device to perform the functions describedabove and to generate output information. The output information isapplied to one or more output devices. Each program is preferablyimplemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programminglanguage to communicate with a computer system. However, the programscan be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In anycase, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language. Each suchcomputer program is preferably stored on a storage medium or device(e.g., ROM or magnetic disk) that is readable by a general or specialpurpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computerwhen the storage medium or device is read by the computer to perform theA) procedures described above. The system may also be considered to beimplemented as a computer-readable storage medium, configured with acomputer program, where the storage medium so configured causes acomputer to operate in a specific and predefined manner.

Although an exemplary implementation of the herein disclosed systems andmethods been described in detail above, those skilled in the art willreadily appreciate that many additional modifications are possible inthe exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novelteachings and advantages of these systems and methods. Accordingly,these and all such modifications are intended to be included within thescope the herein described system and methods. The herein disclosedsystem and methods are better defined by the following exemplary claims.

1-28. (canceled)
 29. A method for providing remote data directorystructure management capabilities across a communications networkcomprising: receiving a request from a requestor over the communicationsnetwork for the management of a data directory structure recorded on amemory device within a computing device; providing data directorystructure information to the requestor by the computing device;receiving a second request from the requester, the second requestindicating a least one data file within the data directory and anelectronic address which to send the at least one data file; and sendingthe at least one data file to the electronic address without sending theat least one data file to the requester.